Deck 9: Human Resources, Job Design, and Work Measurement

Question 1

A NASCAR pit crew consists of how many members?

A) 7
B) 5
C) 9
D) 10
E) 4

Answer 1

A

Question 2

________ is a means of determining staffing policies dealing with employment stability, work schedules, and work rules.

Answer 2

Labor planning

Question 3

Labor planning determines employment stability.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

________ means a job that is not only reasonably safe and for which the pay is equitable but that also achieves an appropriate level of both physical and psychological requirements.

Question 5

What is mutual trust? What is its link to a firm's human resource strategy?

Question 6

Most pit crew members have background experience in what area?

A) mechanical engineering
B) athletics
C) car mechanics
D) automobile race driving
E) No specific area-crew members come from all sorts of backgrounds.

Question 7

Equitable pay alone cannot achieve a reasonable quality of work life in an organization.

Question 8

Maintaining a stable workforce generally results in the firm paying higher wages than a firm that varies workforce level with demand.

Question 9

Technology, location, and layout decisions are all possible constraints on human resource strategy.

Question 10

Which of the following best describes mutual commitment in an organization?

A) an instance in which management is committed to the employees and the employees are committed to management
B) both management and the employees are committed to the same objective
C) both management and the employees are committed, but to different objectives
D) management obtains the commitment of the employees to a stated objective
E) both management and the employees can rely on each other

Question 11

Working four shifts of ten hours each instead of five shifts of eight hours each is known as which of the following?

A) flextime
B) constant employment
C) part-time status
D) flexible workweek
E) flexwork

Question 12

What is quality of work life? What is its relation to a firm's human resource strategy?

Question 13

The two most basic policies associated with employment stability are:

A) job enrichment and job enlargement.
B) employment for life and guaranteed minimum wage.
C) follow demand exactly and hold employment constant.
D) incentive plans and piece-rate plans.
E) full-time and part-time.

Question 14

Mutual trust is:

A) when employees have gained the trust of management.
B) reflected in reasonable, documented employment policies that are honestly and equitably implemented to the satisfaction of both management and employee.
C) when management has gained the trust of the employees.
D) when management recognizes that the employees are competent, motivated people both able and willing to perform at the level required to produce a quality product.
E) when management and the employees both agree on common objectives.

Question 15

The objective of a human resource strategy is to:

A) produce the demand forecast at the lowest possible labor cost.
B) match employment levels with demand.
C) achieve a reasonable quality of work life at low cost.
D) manage labor and design jobs so people are effectively and efficiently utilized.
E) hire the most diversified workforce possible.

Question 16

The two extremes of employment stability policy are "follow demand exactly" and "keep demand constant."

Question 17

A manufacturing plant allows its engineers to come in at 7 A.M. plus or minus an hour but still requires them to work 8-hour days. Which of the following scheduling techniques is the firm employing?

A) flextime
B) constant employment
C) part-time status
D) flexible workweek
E) compressed workweek

Question 18

Flexible workweek is a system that allows employees, within limits, to determine their own work schedules.

Question 19

Mutual commitment means that both management and employee strive to meet common objectives.

Question 20

The objective of a human resource strategy is to manage labor and design jobs so factory space is effectively and efficiently utilized.

Question 21

The Hawthorne studies showed that the intensity of the lighting was more important than the dynamic social system on worker productivity.

Question 22

Frederick W. Taylor is credited with introducing psychology into the workplace.

Question 23

Hackman and Oldham's five desirable characteristics of job design include job significance and pay rate.

Question 24

Which of Hackman and Oldham's five job characteristics refers to providing a sense that the job has an impact on the organization and society?

A) skill variety
B) job identity
C) job significance
D) feedback
E) autonomy

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT a limitation of job expansion?

A) higher capital cost
B) higher wage rates
C) smaller labor pool
D) higher training costs
E) All of these are limitations of job expansion.

Question 26

Job expansion can lead to increased labor cost because of the extra workers hired in the expansion.

Question 27

What are the advantages and the disadvantages of the employment-stability policy of "hold employment constant?"

Question 28

Psychological factors have little relevance in the design of assembly line jobs because those jobs involve physical products and production technology.

Question 29

Job rotation is a version of job enrichment.

Question 30

Four of the components of job design are:

A) employment stability, work schedules, work sampling, and motivation & incentive systems.
B) job specialization, job expansion, psychological components, and self-directed teams.
C) labor specialization and enrichment, motivation and incentive systems, employment stability, and work sampling.
D) ergonomics and work methods, method time measurement, work schedules, and incentive systems.
E) labor specialization, time studies, work sampling, and pre-determined time standards.

Question 31

Which of the following terms implies an increase in responsibility and control in the vertical direction?

A) job rotation
B) job enrichment
C) job re-design
D) job enlargement
E) job satisfaction

Question 32

The Hawthorne studies, which showed that there is a dynamic social system in the workplace, took place in the 1920s.

Question 33

________ often calls for fewer but longer days, such as four 10-hour days.

Question 34

Which of the following statements describes job rotation?

A) The job contains a larger number of similar tasks.
B) The job includes some planning and control necessary for job accomplishment.
C) The operator works on different shifts on a regular basis.
D) The operator's schedule is flexible.
E) The operator is allowed to move, for example, from one type of CNC machine to another.

Question 35

The difference between job enrichment and job enlargement is that:

A) enlarged jobs involve vertical expansion, while enriched jobs involve horizontal expansion.
B) enriched jobs enable an employee to do a number of boring jobs instead of just one.
C) job enlargement is more psychologically satisfying than job enrichment.
D) job enrichment is suitable for all employees, whereas job enlargement is not.
E) enriched jobs involve vertical expansion, while enlarged jobs involve horizontal expansion.

Question 36

Profit-sharing is a motivation and incentive system where executives receive stock options.

Question 37

Employee empowerment is a popular extension of labor specialization.

Question 38

What is the behavioral approach to job design that involves giving the worker more tasks requiring similar skills?

A) job enlargement
B) job enrichment
C) job enhancement
D) job rotation
E) job involvement

Question 39

When a worker obtains clear and timely information about his/her performance, his/her job includes which of the following characteristics?

A) feedback
B) skill variety
C) job identity
D) job significance
E) autonomy

Question 40

An enlarged job has more responsibility than the same job enriched.

Question 41

Management and labor share the labor cost reductions in which of these compensation schemes?

A) bonus system
B) quota system
C) Gilbreth plan
D) Scanlon plan
E) measured day work plan

Question 42

________ systems provide some portion of any profit for distribution to employees.

Question 43

Identify five limitations of job expansion.

Question 44

Which of the following is TRUE regarding division of labor?

A) Refers to the differences in worker skill levels.
B) The advantages of division of labor were first extensively analyzed by Charles Babbage.
C) Adam Smith suggested paying exactly the wage needed for the particular skill required.
D) Refers to the division between workers and business owners.
E) Labor efficiency is improved because employees have less need to change jobs or tools.

Question 45

Identify Hackman and Oldham's five desirable characteristics of job design.

Question 46

Identify the five components of job design.

Question 47

Which of the following statements regarding incentive systems is FALSE?

A) Bonuses are often used to reward employees.
B) Nearly all U.S. manufacturing firms use incentive systems based on individual or group productivity.
C) Employee bonuses are sometimes received in the form of stock ownership or stock options.
D) The Scanlon plan is a form of profit sharing that rewards employees for improvements made in an organization's performance.
E) Increasing use of cross-training has led to increasing use of knowledge-based pay systems.

Question 48

Provide at least three examples of nonmonetary incentives.

Question 49

________ is a method of giving an employee more responsibility that includes some of the planning and control necessary for job accomplishment.

Question 50

What impact did the Hawthorne studies have on human resource strategy?

Question 51

________ involves enlarging employee jobs so that the added responsibility and authority is moved to the lowest level possible in the organization.

Question 52

The ________ studies showed that there is a dynamic social system in the workplace.

Question 53

How does labor specialization assist in reducing labor costs? (List three ways.)

Question 54

________ is the grouping of a variety of tasks using the same approximate skill level.

Question 55

The term common factors is often substituted for the word ergonomics.

Question 56

A(n) ________ is a group of empowered individuals working together to reach a common goal.

Question 57

It is said that job expansion has both a vertical component and a horizontal component. Explain, with reference to such terms as job enrichment, job rotation, and job enlargement.

Question 58

The physical environment in which employees work may affect the quality of work life, but it does not affect their performance and safety.

Question 59

Ergonomics is a branch of economics that deals with costs of scheduling workers.

Question 60

________ is an approach that specifies the tasks that constitute a job for an individual or a group.

Question 61

As tool using animals, human performance is affected by:

A) noise, illumination, and vibration.
B) temperature, humidity, and air quality.
C) strength, reflexes, perception.
D) deign of pedals, levers, buttons.
E) all of these

Question 62

In a perfectly fitting chair, and you are a male in the 50^th percentile, your chair should be:

A) 15.7 inches high.
B) 16.7 inches high.
C) 17.3 inches high.
D) 18.7 inches high.
E) none of these

Question 63

What is methods analysis?

Question 64

The 50^th percentile female is 62.9 inches tall and should have a chair:

A) 15.7 inches high.
B) 16.7 inches high.
C) 17.7 inches high.
D) 18.7 inches high.
E) none of these

Question 65

What are operations charts used for?

Question 66

"Visual workplace" is a term coined by Hawthorne, and it refers to the need for proper lighting at employee workstations.

Question 67

Which of the following is NOT analyzed using methods techniques?

A) movement of capital
B) body movement
C) movement of individuals
D) movement of material
E) crew activity

Question 68

Which of the following is used by methods analysis in analyzing body movement at the workstation level?

A) MTM chart
B) flow diagram
C) operations chart
D) process chart
E) improvement chart

Question 69

Flow diagrams are used to analyze:

A) movement of people or material.
B) utilization of an operator and machine.
C) body movements.
D) time taken by various activities.
E) unnecessary micro-motions.

Question 70

Methods analysis employs which of the following charts in its analysis of the movement of workers and materials?

A) micro-motion chart
B) flow diagram
C) activity chart
D) man-machine chart
E) movement chart

Question 71

________ are drawings used to analyze movement of people or material.

Question 72

The phrase, "designed to show economy of motion by pointing out wasted motion and idle time (delay)," describes which of the following?

A) a flow diagram
B) an activity chart
C) an operations chart
D) a process chart
E) a work sample

Question 73

One of the elements of ergonomics is:

A) allocating work time based on economic studies.
B) the cost justification of technology.
C) analyzing human motions and efforts.
D) assembly line balancing.
E) the establishment of time standards.

Question 74

Activity charts help analyze:

A) movement of people or material.
B) utilization of an operator and machine.
C) body movements.
D) activities that can cause injuries.
E) unnecessary micro-motions.

Question 75

Describe some impacts of noise in the workplace.

Question 76

Often called human factors, the study of work is known as ________.

Question 77

Extended periods of exposure to decibel levels above ________ has been judged to be permanently damaging.

A) 85 dB
B) 90 dB
C) 95 dB
D) 100 dB
E) none of these

Question 78

Kanbans and flow diagrams are both techniques of the visual workplace because they are visual signals that replace printouts and paperwork.

Question 79

Methods analysis focuses on:

A) the design of the machines used to perform a task.
B) establishing time standards.
C) reducing the number of skills needed for the completion of a task.
D) issues such as the movement of individuals or material.
E) evaluating training programs to see if they are efficient.

Question 80

An operations chart analyzes the simultaneous activities of two operators.